German Chancellor Merz Vows to Stay Despite Local Election Defeats

Embattled German Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to stay in office despite exit polls showing damaging defeats for his CDU party in two state elections.

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the AfD led with 38% of the vote share while the CDU scraped into parliament, prompting Merz to call the result a disaster.

Merz insisted he will push forward with coalition economic, tax, and welfare reforms to combat growing authoritarian influence.